Effects of 15N-nitrate fertilization on yield and dinitrogen fixation in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

The isotope dilution method was used to examine the influence of 15N-nitrate fertilizer on dinitrogen fixation and dry matter production in young common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) plant in a phytotron experiment. There were slight variations in dry matter yield with significantly different N concentrations of the bean crop in response to fertilizer nitrogen applieation. The proportion of total N derived from N2 fixation in the vegetative plant parts decreased from 43.5 to 4.7 per cent as the rate of fertilizer nitrogen increased from 0 to 150 kg N/ha. However, the degree of inhibition of N2 fixation by applied nitrate-N was not different at the 75 and 150 kg N/ha rates. Inoculation did not affect the relative contributions of fertilizer and soil nitrogen to total shoot N at the 75 and 150 kg N/ha levels

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) In the Financial Services Sector: A Case Study of Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) Limited

With more and more banks entering the Ghanaian financial sector due to the stable political and macroeconomic environment there has been the need for banks and other financial institutions in the financial services sector to come up with new products, services and processes in order to stay afloat. Increased competition and sophistication of customers require that banks rethink and design processes, procedures, products and services that are cost efficient and effective with the aid of technology to remain competitive and profitable. Employing a descriptive research design methodology with the use of structured questionnaires one hundred and eighty (180) staffs of Ghana Commercial Bank Limited were sampled. Out of this number 48% were females and 52% being males to find out the impact of Information Technology and Human resources in a reengineering process. The study found out that the bank had increased investment in IT which lead to increased operating incomes. However the bank did not fully realize the benefits desired, as staff were not fully involved due to communication barriers even though management (leadership) was fully committed to the BPR process. Keywords: Reengineering, Information Technology, Human Resourc

Distinction among neuronal subtypes of voltage-activated sodium channels by μ-conotoxin PIIIA

Journal ArticleThe functional properties of most sodium channels are too similar to permit identification of specific sodium channel types underlying macroscopic current. Such discrimination would be particularly advantageous in the nervous system in which different sodium channel family isoforms are coexpressed in the same cell. To test whether members of the μ-conotoxin family can discriminate among known neuronal sodium channel types, we examined six toxins for their ability to block different types of heterologously expressed sodium channels

ETHNO-BOTANY OF SOME CASSAVA GERMPLASM IN GHANA

As a contribution to the data on the characteristics of local Ghanaian cassava germplasm, two hundred and twelve (212) local cassava varieties were selected from farmers’ fields from Wenchi, Dormaa, Nkoranza and Asunafo Districts in the BrongAhafo Region of Ghana in 1998. Accession data including local names of the specimens were recorded. Stem cuttings of varieties were planted at the Regional Agricultural Station, Wenchi for characterization. Out of the lot, thirty-six (36) accessions were selected for studies into their ethno-botanical information, and the following observations were made. 1. Features that farmers consider in naming cultivars include: (i) vegetative characters such as the colour of the petiole and stem, and the stature i.e. height of the plant; (ii) the storage root characters: yield, size, shape, skin colour, smoothness and taste (raw or boiled), (iii) the economic value of the cultivar in terms of the income derived from the sale of the fresh or processed root; (iv) the aesthetic value of either the shoot or root tuber. 2. While revealing the selection criteria of the farmers, this ethno-botanic information can be an indicator to what characteristics a breeder might expect in a variety. It could therefore, assist in the preliminary identification of potentially useful traits that the cultivar may possess, even before subjecting it to scientific study

Innovation in Developing Textile Designs Directly Onto Screen without the Use of a Diapositive

The conventional process of developing textile designs unto screen has been the practice of the use of a diapositive. This method apparently has been useful but more spontaneous designs or patterns can be achieved by employing other innovative methods. This study seeks to experiment innovative ideas and methods of developing designs directly onto screen without the use of a diapositive. The research is based on the qualitative research approach and makes use of the experimental and descriptive methods of research. Observation was the main research tool for data collection. The study focused on exploring innovative ideas and methods in developing patterns unto screen for printing by innovatively using leaves, pieces of paper, saw dust, local sponge, threads and others. The study revealed that, developing and printing designs from these innovative techniques provide a collection of accidental designs that are not controlled by the intentional manipulation of the designer. Unique and non-stereotype design concept were serendipitously achieved. It is recommended that for more unique and creative design concepts these techniques could be adopted for accidental designs. Key words: diapositive, screen development, design, innovative ideas

Scalable Randomized Kernel Methods for Multiview Data Integration and Prediction

We develop scalable randomized kernel methods for jointly associating data from multiple sources and simultaneously predicting an outcome or classifying a unit into one of two or more classes. The proposed methods model nonlinear relationships in multiview data together with predicting a clinical outcome and are capable of identifying variables or groups of variables that best contribute to the relationships among the views. We use the idea that random Fourier bases can approximate shift-invariant kernel functions to construct nonlinear mappings of each view and we use these mappings and the outcome variable to learn view-independent low-dimensional representations. Through simulation studies, we show that the proposed methods outperform several other linear and nonlinear methods for multiview data integration. When the proposed methods were applied to gene expression, metabolomics, proteomics, and lipidomics data pertaining to COVID-19, we identified several molecular signatures forCOVID-19 status and severity. Results from our real data application and simulations with small sample sizes suggest that the proposed methods may be useful for small sample size problems. Availability: Our algorithms are implemented in Pytorch and interfaced in R and would be made available at: https://github.com/lasandrall/RandMVLearn.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figures, 4 table

Exploring the Costume Styling and Material Composition of the Effutu Festival Costumes

This study investigates the costume styling and material composition of Effutu festival costumes. It is delimited to Effutu festival performance costumes. The qualitative design was adopted. The ethnography approach was employed through narrative analysis and oral history. Unstructured interviews and on-site direct observations were the qualitative data collection instrument used for the data collection. The narrative analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that historically costumes are seen as relics that can tell the story about the exploits and traditional mythologies of the communities. Again, costumes that materialise culture and identities do not just mirror pre-existing sets of ideas or symbolic systems but facilitate values as ‘they form part of an ethnohistorical repository of knowledge. The findings further revealed that, costume styling could be categorised into Royal, Ritual, Asafo (war/battle), Generational, Women ensembles (Adzewa costumes) and Fanciful costumes. The basic material composition of costumes includes fabrics (both applied and structural designs), leather, horsetail, metal helmets, pillows, kaolin, beads (plastic and glass), mpoboa (shoes), symbolic colours and other material collaboration. It is recommended that costumes used for the Effutu festival be recorded and digitalised for future reference

Crystal Structures of Influenza A Virus Matrix Protein M1: Variations on a Theme

Matrix protein 1 (M1) of the influenza A virus plays multiple roles in virion assembly and infection. Interest in the pH dependence of M1\u27s multiple functions led us to study the effect of subtle pH changes on M1 structure, resulting in the elucidation of a unique low-pH crystal structure of the N1-165-domain of A/WSN/33 (H1N1) M1 that has never been reported. Although the 2.2 Å crystal structure of M1 N-terminus shows a dimer with the two monomers interacting in a face-to-face fashion at low pH as observed earlier, a 44° rotation of the second monomer has led to a significantly different dimer interface that possibly affects dimer stability. More importantly, while one of the monomers is fully defined, the N-terminal half of the second monomer shows considerable disorder that appears inherent in the protein and is potentially physiologically relevant. Such disorder has not been observed in any other previously reported structure at either low or high pH conditions, despite similar crystallization pH conditions. By comparing our novel N1-165-domain structure with other low-pH or neutral-pH M1 structures, it appears that M1 can energetically access different monomer and dimer conformations, as well as oligomeric states, with varying degree of similarities. The study reported here provides further insights into M1 oligomerization that may be essential for viral propagation and infectivity